Counter-guard for heel-trimming machines.



' F. E. BLAIR.

COUNTER GUARD FOR HEEL TRIMMING MAOHINES APPLIOATIOH TILED IBB. 6, 1909.

Patented Oct. 11, 1910.

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FRIAN'K' E. BLAIR, 0F METI-IUEN, MASSACHUSETTS.

COUNTER-GUARD FOB 'HEEL-TEIMMING MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 11, 1910.

Application filed February 6, 1909. Seria1 No. 476,459.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK E. BLAIR, of Methuen, :county of Essex, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Counter-Guards for Heel-Trimming Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to that class of machines which are employed in trimming the sides of heels and are commonly known as heel-shaving machines.

In heels known as French heels or high heels which are ordinarily used on womens shoes and slippers, the distance from the edge of the top liftto the counter is usually much greater at the middle of the back of the heel than it is at the front of the side, this distancegradually decreasing from one point to the other.

As there is danger of injury to the counter by the cutter, it has been customary to provide a countenguard, in the form of the cup, which is adapted to inclose the end portion of the cutter blades to prevent knives from striking the counter of the shoe. Guards of this particular construction have, so far as I am aware, usually been looked after they have been adjusted, and in trimming a heel of the character above referred to, if the guard is fixed, it must be set for the longest distance, from top lift to counter, which is to be trimmed, so that the length of the blade which is exposed will be substantially the same as the length of the heel'at the back. As this distance is, under some conditions, much greater than the distance at the breast, as before stated, it frequently happens that the counter will be damaged by the cutter when the portion of the heel adjacent the breast is trimmed. Various attempts have been made to obviate this difliculty, but so far as I am aware the results secured have not been satisfactory, as they do not provide a rigid support for the bell or counter guard and do not yield in the line of the path of the edge of the blade, so that the edge of the guard is close to the path of the cutter blades in the different positions to which it may be forced in use.

The object of my invention is to provide a form of yielding counter guard which will be rigidly supported and may be adjusted to yield approximately in line with the edge of the path of the blades of a cutter such as isused in trimming an ordinary high heel. I accomplish this object by the means shown in the accompanying drawing, in which,

Figure 1 is a plan view, partly in section, of a device made according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof, and, Fig. 3 is a cross section on the line 3-3 ofFig. 1.

As shown in the drawing, 64 indicates a main frame, in which a cutter shaft 6, having a heel shaving cutter c mounted thereon, is journaled. A bracket (Z, having a large hole, indicated by dotted lines, through its base end, is supported in a horizontal position on the frame a, and a bolt 6, of much smaller diameter than said hole, passes through the same, said bolt being mounted in the frame a at its lower end and having a large washer 7' on its upper end, which is adapted to be clamped against said arm (l by means ofa nut c on the bolt, so that by merely loosening the nut e the arm (Z may be adjusted. in the horizontal plane of the axis of the cutter in any direction and locked, when adjusted, bymerely tightening the clamping nut 0.

According to my invention the arm 03 is provided with a tubular head 9 which extends approximately at right angles thereto, and in which a shaft h is mounted to slide longitudinally at its front end, in a bearing g integral with said head, and, at its rear end, in a tubular nut j which is threaded 1n the rear end of said head 9. A cup-shaped metal counter-guard '23, of the form generally employed, is mounted on the front end of shaft it, said guard being of somewhat greater diameter than the cutter and adapted to inclose the end thereof. Said shaft is so arranged that the center line thereof, and of the guard i is in the horizontal plane of the cutters axis in all positions to which said guard may be moved or adjusted.

A spring k is mounted on the shaft h and interposed between the inner end of a nut and a collar m mounted on the shaft it, said collar having a securing pin at extending therethrough into the shaft h, and projecting therefrom through a slot g in the head 9, beyond the surface of the cutter. An adjusting stop cam 0 is pivoted to the head 9 by a bolt 79 having a clamping nut 9 thereon, said bolt being arranged in line with said slot 9 and said cam being adapted to overlap said slot, so that said spring it will normally act to hold the pin a in engagement with the edge of said cam '0 and the latter will thereby limit the movement of the shaft it toward the cutter.

By loosening the nut g and turning the cam 0 on its pivot, the particular point at which the forward movement of the shaft will be stopped may be varied, and by adjusting the nut j the tension of spring 70 may be also varied. With the above described construction, when the shaft h is pressed back from the cutter, the pin n acts to hold said shaft from rotation, and the spring 70 acts to return the shaft, until the pin n strikes the cam 0.

In practice the arm d is adjusted so that the edge of the guard 2' at the front is close to the edge of the knife at the point to which the guard must be advanced in trimming the heel at the breast portion. Said arm is also set so that, when the guard is pressed away from the cutter, the inner surface thereof will be carried as closely as possible to the path of the edge of the blades, and, as the curve of the blade is usually very slight at the portion thereof which trims the heel adjacent the counter, the arm (Z may be adjusted so that the guard will be held in sufliciently close proximity to the blades, for alfl practical purposes, in all positions there- 0 In trimming the heel, after the guard it has been set, if the trimming operation is begun at the breast at one side, the guard will be pushed back, uncovering the blades as the heel is trimmed toward the back, and covering them again as the other side is trimmed toward the front, in a manner which will be obvious.

With the above described device the guard is rigidly sup orted in all positions thereof and is adapte to yield easily when pressure is applied thereto.

The particular point at which the forward movement of the guard shall be arrested may be readily varied by the cam 0, without disturbing the arm d, while, by adjusting the latter, the direction in which the guard shall yield may be varied.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 2- In a heel trimming machine having a rotary cutter, a base, an arm mounted on said base and universally adjustable in a plane of the axis of the cutter, a head on said arm having a longitudinal bore, a tubular nut mounted in one end of said bore, a rod reciprocally mounted in said nut and in the opposite end portion of said bore in said plane of the cutters axis, a shoulder on said rod a spring encircling said rod and interposed between said nut and said shoulder for forcing said rod toward the cutter,a stop for limiting said movement, and a counter guard rigidly mounted on the front end of said rod, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRANK E. BLAIR. l/Vitnesses L. H. HARRIMAN, H. B. DAVIS. 

